I Still Love You
by Seductive Venus
Summary: Yoh misses her. He wishes she would come back.


A/N: A lot of OOC, gomen minna-san! I hope everyone likes this. -YohxAnna-  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King or anything related to it.  
  
~*~  
  
I Still Love You  
  
By: Dark Hooded Eriol the Magician  
  
~*~  
  
A busy summer day it was in Tokyo. It was a hot, almost stifling afternoon in town where she had mercilessly sent me to buy groceries for one of her friend's visit. I have acquired stinging sunburn at the back of my neck and sweat beads frequently rolls down my face.  
  
Asakura Kino, or Obaa-san, rules my life with an iron hand. Sometimes I wondered whether she was a person at all with all those strict schedules and trainings. but I know I cannot think of her that way. She's the woman who had borne my father and in turn raised me.  
  
I stopped walking in the crowded street at the Kitagawa-cho district to check my groceries. I had to go to Tokyo because the foodstuffs Obaa-san wanted were not present at the local store. And to add to my torment, the stuff she wanted was located at the other side of this vast city, so many miles from home. It will take me at least an hour to walk back again (though I think I might faint on the journey back).  
  
I could hear coins jingling cheerfully in my pocket. Will she ever know if I spend just a teeny, tiny bit of it? Any way you look at it, it's my money too. I can spend it, can I? If I had a second to explain then she might forgive me. without any strings attached. Like extra training or dinnerless nights; oh heck, come what may. I'll just try and then if I fail, I'll face any punishment.  
  
I can ride on one of those buses to get me to the other side of this city and then walk home. Home, is located some miles from Tokyo in the Tominagawa-cho district. Obaa-san wanted me to live with her because she says I'm too pampered in our real home at Izumo. Obaa-san won't know that I spent some money on a time-saving ride, wont she?  
  
With renewed vigor I walked to the nearest bus station and sat languidly on the bench for passengers. I didn't care if I had to cook the dinner tonight for Obaa-san's friend; I cook dinner with or without a guest anyway.  
  
By now, I wished Tamamura Tamao was here. She helps me cook the nice dishes and can salvage the supper I burned through carelessness. That's who I am, Asakura Yoh, the King of laziness and all those unkindly virtues of a sixteen-year-old boy who can't even cook properly.  
  
I smiled to myself and adjusted my bright orange earphones on my ears to listen to my favorite singer, Bob Love. He sings about life, about happiness, and about love. Sometimes I wonder if he was a lost Buddhist or something but he sure does say it right.  
  
My head nodded wearily to the tune as I scanned the road for any signs of the coming bus. It was a deserted road although the sidewalk was practically overflowing with people. Even in this little bench, I sat with at least two; a bloke who picks his nose frequently and a girl in a sleeveless black dress who was reading a newspaper high enough to hide her face and that's about it.  
  
I watched people pass us by, smiling easily. They weren't looking particularly harmful but I know by the way they look at me, they know who I am. I am Yoh the Shaman King to them and not as ordinary Asakura Yoh.  
  
Amidamaru, my loyal spirit-friend appeared at the back of the bench and looked at me worriedly. "Yoh-donno, you look tired. Are you all right?"  
  
I smiled wanly. "Yes, I am. Just waiting for a bus to get home and cook dinner. The sooner I get back, the sooner I get out of my schedule."  
  
I don't know if it was my imagination because the girl beside me glanced and looked away. I only glimpsed a pair of pretty blue eyes and a lock of blonde hair but before I got to talk to her a bus rolled to a stop and the doors opened. The conductor looked at me for a split second and then looked away. I sighed wearily, boarded and paid the driver the last of my money.  
  
Amidamaru and I walked down the cramped aisle and sat at an empty seat beside a window overlooking the pavement. The bloke also boarded the bus and sat some seats behind me. I stared at the girl and remembered someone who also dressed and looked like that. Black dress, blonde hair, and bluish-black eyes. it can't be!  
  
The bus started to move and my eyes were glued to the girl who had stopped reading and was looking around, as if searching for someone. The sharpness and delicateness of features made me relive a hundred memories.  
  
It can't be her! My fiancée had left me three years ago; Kyouyama Anna had left me with a note but no reason about why she left. And I have never heard of her since. I, Yoh, had vowed to search for her and went to Osozorean to interrogate everyone. I had searched Japan but found nothing. The next year was hard and I was at the brink of losing my mind. My fiancée, Anna, was proclaimed missing ever since. It seemed to me that if Anna didn't want to be found, she's dead serious about it.  
  
In case you're wondering why at such a young age, I already had a fiancée; well it's all my grandmother's plans. She set me up with Anna, her favorite pupil, and told me that she would expect me to improve under Anna's guidance. Let's just say that I did improve; if it weren't for her "inhumane" trainings then I wouldn't be the Shaman King.  
  
After Anna was pronounced that (I still believe her alive) Obaa-san started interviewing girls interested to become my wife. Of course, a lot went and Obaa-san seemed to like them and made me go to dates with one girl after another during Sundays. I can't say I enjoyed it, but they burned with no inner fires. They just want to marry my money and my popularity.  
  
I shook my head to return to my senses; I stared at her until the bus started to move. She had gotten up to shake hands with a boy no older than I. There was something familiar with that hair.  
  
First Anna, and now my twin brother, Asakura Hao! Are they going out together? Are they on friendly terms? Has Anna left me for him? A hundred thoughts raced on my mind. It horrified me at the very thought of Hao marrying Anna!  
  
"Yoh-donno, are you okay?" my samurai spirit asked. "You look like you saw a ghost."  
  
I glanced at him and said, "I dunno. Let's get down from here."  
  
The spirit looked at me, shocked. "But you've paid Yoh-donno! You can't get down now!"  
  
"But I need to do something." I mumbled and took all the grocery bags (four in all) and went to the driver. He was whistling some sort of tune and was enjoying going slow. I cleared my throat; time is running out. They could be going anywhere by now!  
  
"Excuse me?" I asked politely. Amidamaru vanished and I was alone; I've never done this before.  
  
"Sit down young man. We're going to Tominagawa-cho, if that's what you're going to ask." The driver said irritably.  
  
"But I got to go down now. So please stop the bus." I said, through clenched teeth; he was starting to annoy me. The driver did stop and look at me, sniggering.  
  
"I can't stop for a mere kid. I got to get my passengers to where they want to go," he sneered. Some of the people were staring at us, including a half-concealed girl at the back.  
  
I glared at him, something I rarely did. In a low voice I felt that didn't belong I told him, "I am the Shaman King and you will let me down or I shall send spirits to go after you and your whole family."  
  
That stopped him. The driver opened the door and I went down smoothly. I didn't care if my money was gone because this is more important than that. If Anna is still alive, then I may still tell her all the feelings I've never shared before.  
  
I found out that my query was starting to leave to the direction of the shops. I ran hurriedly about twenty paces behind them, following slowly to make sure they wouldn't suspect me. She resembled Anna so much from her blond hair to her blue necklace; the only thing she lacked was the red bandana I gave her when we were children.  
  
"Yoh-donno, what are you doing?" Amidamaru asked as he hovered beside me as we kept sight of them.  
  
"Do you think that's Anna?" I asked softly. The boy beside her had brown hair trimmed and was walking like he was royalty (it reminded me much of Hao). My main spirit shrugged and disappeared once again.  
  
I followed them all afternoon. I watched them behind a crumpled old newspaper in the clothe store and a few tables away in a coffee shop. As I watched, I felt a sense of jealousy and an excitement that was reserved only for those times with Anna. I didn't know what it meant but I did miss Anna very much.  
  
Does this mean that I've fallen in love with my cold and indifferent fiancée? Does this mean that I would do anything to be the only man in her life? It sure felt so because every time they touched, I felt like a snake about to strike.  
  
Anna was my trainer and my coach when we lived together when we were both around thirteen and known each other even longer than that as kids. Well, I can say that she isn't the nicest girl around but there was something about her that draws you to her. Even if she slaps, scolds, and gives inhuman trainings. she's still the sort of girl who has a lot of secrets hovering around her, waiting for you to bring her out.  
  
I like Anna in a way as I like my friends like Horohoro and Tao Ren. Yet sometimes I feel there is something that urges me not to be only friends with her, be something more. I think I valued our engagement very much although I didn't understand it at first.  
  
As I got up for the nth time to follow them, I felt a sort of rebellious sensation course through me. It occurred to me that I'm already tired of following and spying; its time to know.  
  
I walked directly behind them, something I never did before. It took a lot of courage when I placed my hand on the girl's shoulder to turn her around.  
  
What I saw next shocked me, near enough to make me have a heart attack!  
  
Not only was she not Anna but she was a completely different person! She did have blonde hair and her eyes weren't bluish-black, it was bluish- green. Her black dress was a V-neck that showed elegance and the necklace she was wearing were sapphires! The boy looked at me with those gray eyes. He did have a smile resembling Hao's and was definitely not my elder brother.  
  
I felt my cheeks burn with embarrassment. I had once heard from my friend, Ren, that I make mistakes innocently or wasn't aware of it while this one was very real and I deliberately did it. And adding to my gyroscope of feelings was disappointment.  
  
"Ah! G-Gomen nasai! I thought you're someone I know!" I said as I bowed deeply. "Gomen nasai, ojuo-san, I didn't mean to bother you."  
  
Although I was really repentant and was bowing repeatedly, I was stunned to feel a punch hit my jaw. I keeled over sideways and tasted dust.  
  
This wasn't the first time I got punched in the face; you'd get them a lot if you joined the Shaman Fight. There was something familiar about it like the sort of sensation that bites and makes your insides burn. It was called defeat.  
  
I vaguely heard them walk away, only suspended in the moment where I had entertained the thought I might see Anna again. If I hadn't raised my hopes then I wouldn't have felt this crummy or this miserable. But who could blame me? I've missed her too much!  
  
People walked around me and didn't care. I felt like the most insignificant spirit who will continually be ignored. I saw a few oranges roll a few feet away from where I was and I didn't have the energy to get up or move at all.  
  
"Are you going to lie there all day?" a familiar cold voice demanded.  
  
I blinked and looked up to the shadow that had blocked the sultry sunlight. That glare was very well-known to me. I tried to smile but I felt the figure pull me up by the ear.  
  
"Ouch! Who the hell are you anyway?" I demanded as the pain added to the agonizing throbbing of my jaw. I looked sideways and met the cold, unrepentant eyes of Kyouyama Anna.  
  
"Anna!" I cried joyfully, forgetting my disappointment.  
  
"You disgust me Yoh. How can you even think that cow would look like me?" Anna demanded as she released my ear. She gave me the look that made me squirm uncomfortably. Suddenly she began to brush off the dust in my open white shirt, my baggy green pants and my hair. "I didn't train you to act like this! The Shaman King, Asakura Yoh, rolling round a street like a hog on a puddle of mud!"  
  
I grinned and dusted off my bangs but I cannot help but feel uncertain whether this was really her. I must've been dwelling too much in my dreams. "Are you really Anna?" I asked.  
  
"Baka, do you doubt me?" Anna said sternly. "Do you think I'd lie?"  
  
I tried to nod but it came out as a shake. Anna planted her famous left slap on my cheek and now I know why the truth hurts.  
  
She kept fussing over my appearance, occasionally boxing my ears and scolding it off but we were both quiet to each other. The groceries I picked up and gathered again, fussing unnecessarily. It took me completely by surprise when Anna bent and helped me put back the sweet oranges. She had an odd look in her eyes and I cannot interpret it.  
  
"How are you Anna?" I asked softly "Where have you been the last two years of my life?"  
  
Anna glanced at me and said indifferently, "I've been everywhere."  
  
The crowd had thinned and we had more space to move in, to breathe in. I gazed at her awkwardly, and then hugged her to my chest, burying me head at her soft hair. "I missed you Anna, I missed you a lot."  
  
I heard a small noise like a sob and felt something warm on my chest. I released her and gazed long and hard at her eyes. I felt myself grow nervous, not with fear, but with a twitchy, bubbly feeling. And then I realized I am in love with Anna.  
  
She discreetly wiped her eyes and looked at me with the familiar ask- a-question-and-I'll-slap-you look. It must be why she wouldn't want me to see her cry; all these years I've never seen Anna lose control or break down. Perhaps I don't want to, because if Anna breaks, then I would break with her.  
  
"Let's go home," I said cheerfully. I grabbed the four plastic bags of groceries and led the way with her slightly lagging behind me.  
  
"Home," she repeated.  
  
"Yeah, Obaa-san and I are living there. She thinks I need more training since my furyoku is not as good as before. Perhaps because there's no shaman fight and no Hao to battle with," I explained. I interpreted right by the look of her face right now.  
  
I began to tell her about the things that had happened three years before; Ren's total confession to Pillica, Horohoro's life revolving around Tamao, and the rest of the things that made me jealous sometimes because I kept asking myself, where is MY love?  
  
I didn't see her face as we walked. I kept looking forward yet spared glances if I feel that I may never want to lose sight of her again. She was composed and her face a mask as usual, like she didn't care or even gave a damn that I was talking. But hey, I'm used to it. All the years I've spent with Anna I know this reaction because even though I'm trying to explain a wrong I've done or saying something, she never showed any kind of emotion or interest.  
  
I knew that I was staring at her too much but I can't help it. I haven't seen her for a long, long time and I want to see how she'd changed. She had grown prettier over those three long years; her short, chin-length blonde hair had grown to her shoulders and her figure seemed fuller and womanly and her eyes were still ice-cold bluish-black. She still wears her Itako beads and her red bandana was tied around her neck. You don't need shamanic powers to see that she's a beautiful.  
  
The sun was sinking slowly in the west horizon as we reached the road home. The very same road she used to make me walk at the break of dawn. Memories visited me and I cannot help but smile to myself; Anna noticed this and asked why.  
  
"I don't know really." I answered simply. I was rewarded by a forceful knock at the back of the head. She walked past me with her bandana and hair fluttering with the breeze; purposefully ignoring me.  
  
I wanted to say many things. I wanted to tell her how happy I am to see her. I wanted to say that she's the most beautiful being on earth. And I wanted to say that I love her very much. Curiously, I cannot even utter single word leading to this.  
  
Yet she beat me to it.  
  
"Yoh, why were you at Kitagawa-cho?" she asked. She knew it was the best part of town where you could buy a lot of her favorite senbei.  
  
"I- err, needed to buy some things for Obaa-san. She wants senbei on the dinner menu for her friend. I also shopped all around Tokyo for this stuff because she wanted an exceptional menu," I replied as I gestured to my luggage. "I think her friend really like senbei by the quantity of it."  
  
"Oh," she said and then she turned to me stiffly so in the twilight, I can only see the side of her face. "Did she inform you that it was me, her supposed friend?"  
  
I gasped. I goggled at her for a few minutes with my mouth open. "Y- You. you mean that she's expecting you all these time!"  
  
Anna gave me a small detached nod. "Didn't you notice I was following you around? I think your furyoku did decrease, you can't even sense me!"  
  
"And she wanted to see me running around, going gaga about looking for you?" I muttered. She nodded again.  
  
"Does this mean that she wanted to see me prove how much I love you?" I asked incredulously then clapped a hand to my mouth. Uh-oh, now I've done it.  
  
Anna gave me a long, hard look as if sizing me up or trying to see through me. I squirmed uncomfortably and then I thought Buddha hadn't forgotten what I'd wanted to do all along and had helped me.  
  
"Err. I want to tell you Anna," I started to say. Why must I blush now? "I-I. I missed you when you were gone. And I'm really worried about you because you didn't tell me on that note about where you're going and why. "I finished hurriedly.  
  
"Y-You were worried about me even though that meant the tormentor was gone and you're free to do anything," she said hollowly.  
  
I nodded. I took a deep breath and blurted out, "I love you Anna!"  
  
We stared at each other quietly. I couldn't read the expression in her face. There was no turning back, its time to know what Anna really felt about this engagement.  
  
"You love me although I give you harsh trainings? You love me even if I slap and physically hurt you? You still love me even if I didn't tell you what I think or what I feel?" Anna murmured as a few fat tears rolled down her cheeks and there was a hint of plea in her last sentence, as if asking confirmation from me.  
  
"I still love you Anna. I didn't know it before but I know it now. Even if you do all those things, I'll love you. I didn't know what to do when you left me. That's how you're so important to my life. I'm so happy to see you again and now, I hope you won't leave me again." I said clearly and crossed the space between us. I dropped the grocery bags and hugged her tightly. She was so warm yet so cold.  
  
"I love you too Yoh. Even before I knew it, I loved you so much. That's why I left three years ago. For me to examine myself to prove that I'm worthy to be your bride someday." Anna said with a cracked voice.  
  
"You were worthy even though you need not prove it." I whispered to her ear and released her. "We're engaged and in a few more years we'll marry each other and have a dozen children. I will give you the good life you wanted and all the love I have now is only for you."  
  
"You won't tire of me then?" she asked.  
  
"No, by then, I would love you more!" I said and laughed as I picked up the bags and took her hand to lead her home, not caring whether my Obaa- san will kill me or if we get ambushed by her spirits. All I cared was that Anna is with me and there is nothing more blissful than that.  
  
~*~  
  
[110803; 11:04 pm]  
  
I hoped this helped satisfy some of everybody's YohxAnna cravings. If you want to review/comment/ask/suggest or anything else, I'm cool with anything like that. I know it isn't that detailed or anything but I just got inspired by Barbie's Cradle's song called "Limang Dipang Tao" and I couldn't resist writing about it! ^______^!  
Oh, before I forget there's no such place as Tominagawa-cho or Kitagawa-cho in Tokyo; I made it up. So.I really hope I added to the continuous collection of YohxAnna fanfics. They're just the cutest couple, right?  
  
-Love-  
  
Eriol-chan 


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